It hit the breakroom tile like a thrown rock, split clean down the middle, and the sound carried the sharp finality of something breaking that could never truly be glued together again while hot coffee spread across the floor in a brown arc that steamed against the cold tile.
Victor Langley barely flinched.
He had Alyssa Hart pinned in the narrow space between the counter and the refrigerator, his forearm planted above her shoulder like a barrier, and although he technically was not touching her in a way he could not deny later, his body hovered too close and his confident smile suggested he enjoyed the imbalance of power.
Alyssa’s eyes found mine across the room and the look was not dramatic, yet it was unmistakably raw and pleading like someone reaching for air beneath deep water.
“Need something?” Victor asked without turning his head, his voice carrying a mild irritation that implied I had stepped outside the boundaries he believed belonged to him.
I stepped forward anyway and quietly moved my body between him and Alyssa just enough to force him to step aside while saying calmly, “Actually, yes, I need you to stop cornering women in this office.”